Animation Comes in All Forms

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MOVIE REVIEW
The Deer King
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Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 53m
Director(s): Masashi Ando, Masayuki Miyaji
Writer(s): Nahoko Uehashi (novel,) Taku Kishimoto (screenplay)
Cast: Shinichi Tsutsumi, Ryoma Takeuchi, Anne Watanabe, Hisui Kimura, Atsushi Abe, Yoshito Yasuhara
Where To Watch: In select theaters, find the showing nearest to you gkids.com/films/the-deer-king/

Traditionally, I’m a massive fan of most modern anime, although there was something about this one that didn’t connect with me. I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t have that same magic as many others. I was also caught off guard by the adult themes in the film. Not one for the kids!

The film itself wasn’t bad; maybe it was a little bit drawn out but not bad. The IMDb synopsis reads, “The last survivor of a band of warriors is enslaved in a salt mine. One night, savage dogs attack, and a mysterious disease wipes out everyone at the mine. The warrior escapes with a little girl while a gifted physician looks for a cure.”

An exciting story, but there just seemed to be this disconnect that I was used to. Probably more of a problem with my expectations than the film itself. It was indeed a beautiful film; there is something about the hand-drawn animation style that has so much more warmth than anything CGI can match.

Unfortunately, the film lost its way the further it got into the story. In the begging, we had this beautiful story that progressively seemed to get more off track. I would’ve liked to see a deeper dive into the characters and their origins. Instead, it felt more like we were just jumping into their stories and plots that we were supposed to understand.

As I’ve stated time and time again, please don’t take my word as gospel. Film is such a subjective experience. I’m just here to share my thoughts and feelings about my experience. I prefer everyone to have their own experiences and make up their minds.

I will be screening INU-OH from GKIDS soon, and I hope I enjoy it more.

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